Summary created by Smart Answers AI
In summary:
- PCWorld reports that a gamer received an 8,000-year ban for playing leaked Forza Horizon 6 files that were prematurely available on Steam in unencrypted form.
- The player was identified through a YouTube video showcasing early gameplay, resulting in a hardware-linked ban expiring December 31, 9999.
- This incident highlights severe penalties for unauthorized game access, even when files are easily accessible before official release.
Look, I know that everyone reading this is a good little gamer. You’d never acquire a video game through less-than-legitimate means. You certainly wouldn’t download a game before it was released, even if said game was posted to Steam unencrypted and an easy target for unscrupulous pirates. Because aside from just being good little gamers, the punishment could be an 8,000-year ban.
According to a deleted post on Reddit (spotted by Windows Central), one fan who loaded up the widely available Forza Horizon 6 files more than a week before its May 19th release got such a sentence. The hardware-linked ban for their player account was set to expire on December 31st in the year of our lord 9999. That’s 7,973 years from now and quite a vote of confidence in Microsoft’s server availability.
The post has since been deleted, though some other Reddit users note that the screenshot includes the gamertag of a known YouTuber with 50,000 subscribers, who had uploaded a lengthy video of gameplay. Purportedly, there are already cracked versions of Forza Horizon 6 based on the leaked files, so the video may have been the only way for Microsoft or developer Playground to have identified the early user. (They may have played themselves, ba-dum-tish.) So it’s possible that not every eager beaver who checked out the game before release is getting the not-quite-eternal reward.
Forza Horizon 6 for PC and Xbox is Microsoft’s flagship racing game for this year, much anticipated thanks to its open-world Japan setting and tons of new cars. Those who pre-order the Premium Edition of the game at a wallet-busting $120 get to play it four days early, on May 15th. Gee, I wonder why people are so interested in that pirate release.